Hurricanes Howl Over Senators

The Carolina Hurricanes made the most of fast start against the Ottawa Senators.

Ray Sheppard and Sami Kapanen scored on Carolina's first two shots and Arturs Irbe made 27 saves as the Hurricanes beat the Senators 3-1 on Saturday night.

"When you put the first two shots in, that's going to set any team back on its heels," Carolina coach Paul Maurice said. "Five on five, we were very good. Personally, it was an important win for me. I'm still working."

Keith Primeau added a power-play goal late in the first period to help the Hurricanes (2-1-3) run their unbeaten string to four games.

Vaclav Prospal had a second-period power-play goal for the Senators, who have lost three straight to drop to 3-3.

"We didn't fold, we just have to start when they drop the puck," Ottawa defenseman Lance Pitlick said. "We're back to .500 with some tough games coming up. We have to have a gut check."

Senators goalie Damian Rhodes was replaced by Ron Tugnutt following Kapanen's goal 4:37 into the opening period. Sheppard beat Rhodes to the short side with a shot from the top of the slot at 2:20.

"The shots were stoppable and I didn't come up with the stops," Rhodes said. "The big thing is to bounce back."

Primeau's shot trickled between Tugnutt's pads with 1:32 left in the period for his fourth goal of the season as the Hurricanes outshot the Senators 14-4 in the period.

Prospal fired a long rebound from Andreas Johansson's drive over Irbe at 6:20 of the second period.

Irbe improved to 2-0-2 and lowered his goals-against average to 1.01.

"It's definitely one of the best stretches I've had," Irbe said. "The team is very committed, defensively."

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